A few weeks ago I wrote this post about Israel’s efforts to soft-land a spacecraft on the moon and become only the fourth nation to do so successfully.
Today, the Beresheet spacecraft successfully completed a critical maneuver, establishing its orbit around the moon with a greatest distance from the moon — an apolune — of 466 miles, and a perilune (closest distance) of 285 miles.
It is expected to complete its journey this week, as planned, when it lands, on Thursday the 11th, in the Mare Serenitatis — the Sea of Serenity.
John Racette says:
This is totally exciting. Humanity’s capacity to achieve grand objectives is astounding. We would all do well to celebrate it robustly, and demonstrated it often.